Feliz Dia de Chicken?

Date: November 28, 2011

Area: Long Island

Companion - Sister Lewis

Happy Late Thanksgiving!!!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!! I forgot to tell you one of my HIGHLIGHTS from last week :)

One of our investigators asked me where I was from? I then responded that I was American and that I was from Arizona. Then I asked him why he asked. He said that I had an accent and that I sounded like someone from Costa Rica!! Oh man you have NO idea how happy that made me feel! I always wanted to have some sort of accent so that I could sound native when I speak..Glad to know that I actually sound like a Hispanic when I talk :)
Well you may be wondering why I put Feliz dia De Chicken...ok so usually they say " Feliz Dia de Pavo" Like Happy Turkey Day when we are talking about Thanksgiving....However its funny because most Hispanics do not eat Turkey...but rather they eat lots and lots of Chicken :) So one of our investigators called it Chicken day :)
Monday was wonderful! We had a family home evening with two Dominican lady's from the ward, we were able to talk about Temples and the importance of Family's and how we can be with out family's for the Eternity's through the sealing powers of the temples. I am SO thankful for temples and the knowledge that I have that through temples we can be sealed for time and all eternity to our loved ones :)
So on Wednesday we were able to go and teach the Mendoza family with a member named Helen. She is this cute little Peruvian who just got here like 2 months ago from Peru and is staying with her family here until April. ( I decided that I love Peruvians) but anyways we were able to go and teach Wendy and Rey who I had been talking about and we were able to review a little bit about the Restoration. We asked Anderson the 13 year old boy what he remembered about the Restoration from when we taught it the first time. Anderson remembered everything in detail! He is such a smart kid! We then were able to watch the video to review it and the spirit in the room was SO strong! Everyone could feel it. I always get teary eyed at the part when Joseph Smith's Father gets baptized and when he leaves the water and Joseph Smith gives him a hug. I can feel how Joseph Smith felt when he knew that he could bring and give the BEST thing that we can give to someone. The Message of the true restored gospel on this earth. Missionary Work seriously brings SO much joy! I have never been happier than I have been on my mission!! The holy ghost was the teacher! They were able to feel it. After the lesson we asked Anderson if there was anything else that we could do for him and he said, "Actually YES! You can assign me another chapter to read in the Book of Mormon!" Seriously?! well we will gladly do that! Man its no wonderful Heavenly father says that we need to become as little children to enter into the Kingdom of God. They just get it! It makes sense to them and they are humble,submissive, they are teachable!

Thanksgiving was a wonderful day! I think that on the mission you are able to realize a lot more the blessings that you have in your life. I am SO grateful for my testimony in the gospel. Its something that is like my anchor that keeps me going when times get hard. I know that I can always turn to my Savior for ANYTHING! I know that we have a purpose on this earth and that Heavenly Father has a plan specifically for me! Guess what?! He has a plan for you too! Yes I am talking to you! Whoever is reading this email- YOU! Heavenly Father knows and loves you individually! He loves you so much that he has given you many tools in this life to make it back to him. Such as the Gospel! We are SO blessed to have the message of the restored gospel! He has given us a body, and sent us down to earth so that we can have experiences! So that we can learn, and that we can make choices that can and will lead us back to the presence of our Heavenly Father! HOW LUCKY ARE WE?!?! Sometimes we do not realize how blessed we are! But if we take time to "Smell the roses" per say or just look around us we then can ultimately realize JUST HOW BLESSED WE ARE!
We were able to go and play football, for the Turkey Bowl! IT was super fun! We played Football with like 3 Zones! I know what you all are thinking...YES I PLAYED FOOTBALL! was I good? well....that's another story...aha but I played and MAN I am sore!!!! My companion and I could not walk for a good 2 days after! haha We had the pleasure of having 3 turkey/chicken dinners that day! The Hispanics sure are taking good care of us missionary's!
We had a really good lesson with the Zelaya Family and the Lee's ( a couple in the ward who came with us) and we talked again about the importance of marriage and eternal familys and how our ultimate goal is to make it to the temple. We had another lesson during the week with Mirna and Denis Zelaya about the restoration again and the Word of Wisdom. It made me SO happy to hear that Denis has been obeying the word of Wisdom for over a month now. He has made significant changes and it was from when we started teaching him. He is so solid! Denis said the opening prayer. There is just something about when an investigator prays...they are so sincere and you can tell that they really mean what they are saying. He prayed for understanding of the Book of Mormon....and much more. These people are so humble and have really taught me how to be more humble and to recognize the hand of the Lord in all things. Mirna came to Church on Sunday! She just loves going to church and the way that she feels when she is there!
We invited Wendy and Rey to get married! They know that they need to get married before they get baptized! We set a date with them to get baptized and they are more than excited!! Wendy is so down and really excited! She is reading in the Book of Mormon, their whole family is coming to Church! They are progressing! It feels wonderful! It is amazing to see that through the atonement of Jesus Christ and that through our obedience to the commandments we really can start to see that light..shine through someone's countenance. There are many people that say that us as members have a light....and I have realized more on my mission where that light comes from. Really that light is from Obedience! When we are obedient we allow the light of Christ to shine through us and our countenance appears brighter.

We are all literal sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. I think that when we all come to realize that, then we begin to see and notice our TRUE potential! We began to see that we have been sent here that through our obedience we can ultimately one day become like our Heavenly Father. As this Christmas season approaches may we all remember our REAL purpose for being here and let us remember the TRUE meaning of Christmas. To Celebrate the birth of our Savior, our Redeemer Jesus Christ.

I love you all! Keep being the amazing people that you are! You mean the world to me :)

Con Amor,
Hermana Gray

“It is the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, obedience to which will bring ‘peace on earth,’ because it means—good will toward all men.” 3 President Thomas S. Monson